The goal of this program is to investigate the roles of conventional and 'unconventional' mitochondrial proteins in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). The major roles of the Molecular Core are to (i) provide the genes or gene products that are required in the individual projects, and (2) alter the expression of proteins by either knockdown (shRNA) or overexpression of their genes to facilitate the investigation of the pathogenesis of PD proposed in the individual projects. Services provided by the Molecular Core include: cDNA cloning, design and production of constructs for gene overexpression or gene silencing, assistance with generation of transient and stable transfections, production of viral vectors for in vivo gene transfer, and generation of fusion proteins containing protein transduction domain (TAT) for efficient protein transduction in in vitro and in vivo. These services will be critical for successful completion of each of the individual projects.